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Unix

I have heard a lot about this operating system. But since I am coming from Windows XP and MAC OS X, it is hard for me how to take advantage of the system enough to hack into another system, because this is the equivalent of turining a popular single player game into a multiplayer game, which to me is impossible since only the software companies have nough time to set up the computer to do that. I would also like to understand how somebody can break into someones machine using a programming language. I know it would be impossible for you to help me understand these problems I have in one post, but maybe you could recomend a good book or text file. Thanks!

Have you thought about dual booting either of your XP or Mac? Running a Linux on either (or Solaris/FreeBSD on the Intel) would allow you to play with more mainstream *nix security. You shouldn't knock the Windows machine as there are other avenues and security items to deal with on that. Building secure windows and making it useable is important in today's day and age.

I thought OS X was very Unix-ish in nature, similar file nomenclature, true multi-user and all that? I would run Linux(www.linuxiso.org has the distros I do believe) on your/my box and get a good grasp of how it works and things not to do; such as logon as root and not setup a second account, services and all that. As MsM said Windows can be secure in the hands of an expert, like MsM Learn her name and learn it well, she knows a lot lot lot. PHLAK or Knoppix-SD(Security Distro) are run from CD so you dont even have to wipe your computer and mess it up.

OS X is based off of BSD as I understand it, a big departure from the previous Mac OS's. MsMittens is right, setting up a dual boot system is your best bet. My reccomendation would probably be SuSE Linux. It comes with an NTFS resizer to aid in installation. Reading is going to be the best help you can get with this. Read a book, and try out what you read on SuSE.

It's an incredible book that covers just about every Unix, Linux, BSD, Windows, and Mac command. Oh yeah it has Netware stuff too. It's a good way to learn your way around systems because it shows equivalent commands in the various OS's.

Netware pisses me off. And my school has some of the stupidest, laziest people working their. Their stupidity and lack of knowing anything has screwed me over a lot of times. The book would be an interesting, incredibly dry read But who are you kidding, I am &lt;young&gt;, there is now way in hell my parents trust me with a CC so I do not buy stuff. For better or worse free stuff is what I live and breathe. For instance my nice new version of Norton AV One quick note with linux, if you have an NVIDIA driver, ask me for assistance. I have installed linux about 30 times with the NVIDIA drivers in the first few weeks of using Linux. Har HAr, reminds those old people and gurus what it was like eh?

Beneath the easy-to-use interface and rich graphics of Mac OS X is Darwin, an open source UNIX-based foundation built on technologies such as FreeBSD, Mach, Apache, and GCC. Darwin provides a complete UNIX environment, with X11 and POSIX services comparable to Linux or FreeBSD, including familiar kernel, libraries, networking and command-line utilities.

Anyway, I've been looking for the article on the Apple website that screamed that it was now POSIX compliant.

From the way you talk Figaro, it doesn't sound like you know terribly much about operating systems in general. Before you go about sticking new OS's on your boxes, go into your main Applications folder, then go into Utilities (or is it Tools, I forget, and I forgot my power supply so I can't use my precious...) you will find a program called "Terminal" (So long as when you installed MacOS X, you installed the BSD subsystem aswell). That is your window into the BSD, aka Unix, that lies beneath the prettiness of MacOS X. Apple calls that Darwin, you can call it your window into *nix.

Explore, poke around. Becareful what you screw with, 'cause you can seriously bomb your box, but that is the same if you had install Linux or BSD on it.

Once you get comfy there, look into a program called Fink( http://fink.sourceforge.net ). It is a spiffy package manager, similar to apt, which is what Debian Linux users..., um..., use to get their linux programs. Combine that with Apple's X11 (which you can find at apple's site), and you have a Unix box that you can use without constantly having to be a Unix guru.

Though if you really want to purify your life, you can always ditch Windows and install Linux.

Peace,
Dhej

The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of dusk. -Hegel

I think that MsMittens is correct in mentioning that you should do the dual boot machine. I recommend putting Fidora on your machine because it is the newer version of Red Hat and it is fairly easy to use and user friendly. It has the capablilities of being very complex yet it is very easy to learn and to start with. If you are up for a challenge I recommend installing FreeBSD that is a great OS and is an adventure to learn. FreeBSD also has a great website with information and there are lots of people that are willing to help you with any questions that you might have. Hope this helps a little

I think that MsMittens is correct in mentioning that you should do the dual boot machine. I recommend putting Fidora on your machine because it is the newer version of Red Hat and it is fairly easy to use and user friendly. It has the capablilities of being very complex yet it is very easy to learn and to start with. If you are up for a challenge I recommend installing FreeBSD that is a great OS and is an adventure to learn. FreeBSD also has a great website with information and there are lots of people that are willing to help you with any questions that you might have. Hope this helps a little

You also might like to try a live Linux distro such as knoppix which will run on your computer with out having to be installed. This lets you learn the system without having to install it on a machine. If you go to there website www.knoppix.net i believe you can also find a list of customized live distros for all sorts of things such as knoppix-std (security tools distrobution) or medialinux which comes with more graphic, video, and audio software then you could ever know what to do with. All in all its a load of fun, have a great time with it all.